At 7-2 The Eagles Have Just 3 Regular Season Steps To Go
The Eagles have dug out of an early season NFC hole and now find themselves with three steps left to navigate the best possible path to winning a championship. At 7-2 after their dominant 34-6 win in Dallas the Eagles can focus on accomplishing a series of goals that can lead to a great January. The Eagles are currently 7th in PPG offensively and 5th in PPG defensively.
They appear to be trending towards elite status. Before we start focusing on the Commanders in this short week, here are the three things the Eagles can accomplish to host the NFC Title Game.
STEP 1: Distance yourself from the Commanders
Philadelphia is currently sitting one-half game ahead of Washington in the NFC East. The Thursday Night matchup will prove critical in determining whether the Birds are going to return to the Division Champions perch or be battling it out for a potential wildcard berth.
It’s going to be a much easier ride if the Eagles find a way to win on Thursday. The Commanders have stacked a lot of wins against losing teams. If they were to come into Philadelphia and win it would give them a renewed sense of confidence. Worse yet, an Eagles loss would reinforce doubts of those who believe this team isn’t much better than last years version.
STEP 2: Secure a better record than the NFC South and NFC South Champions
While Detroit sits at (8-1) atop the NFC, the Eagles currently have a 2 game lead on the Falcons (6-4) and the Cardinals (6-4) for the second best divisional record. Yes there is only one team that gets to enjoy the bye week but the second seed is incredibly valuable. Winning the 2 seed allows you to host the 2-7 wildcard weekend matchup and with a victory in that game you are guaranteed another home field edge on Divisional Weekend. This is the far more desirable path to take. It’s important to keep an eye on Atlanta as the Eagles must finish a game ahead of them due to their loss in Week Two at the Linc.
STEP 3: Become the Lion Tamers
Unfortunately, the long game is avoiding the Detroit Lions until the last possible moment. If the path to a Super Bowl berth is through a road game in Detroit, so be it. You worry about that when it happens. Until then the Birds can hope that someone steps up and knocks them down a few notches. Here are the most likely suspects!
The Lions will face the Packers (Home), Bills (Home), 49ers (Road) and the Vikings (Home) in four of their last five games. The Eagles final 5 is far more favorable with 4 of the 5 at home. If they can get a little assistance we could be sitting on pins and needles awaiting the results of their games to see whether a bye-week path is truly in the mix.
What’s the most likely Eagles outcome?
Based on everything that I’ve seen so far, I’d expect that the Eagles will take a couple of losses in their final 8 games. The optimistic view is that a 13-4 record would be fantastic and that should secure the second seed in the NFC easily. A split of the LA Rams and Baltimore Ravens games should set the Eagles up for an easy ride to the two seed. If they were to drop one other game I’m thinking that the two seed would be the best possible outcome.
Beat the Commanders and then the to do list becomes crystal clear. You can’t open the door for Washington to think the NFC East title is within their reach. The death blow to their swagger could occur on Thursday night and for the Eagles it might just be the springboard.
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10 Of The Best Trades Howie Roseman Has Ever Made
Trading Up For Devonta Smith
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
What is better than trading up to get a great player like Devonta Smith? Robbing your division rival of a chance to get the player. It’s a move he has made before when he jumped the Cowboys to take Dallas Goedert in 2018. But this time he worked with the Cowboys to steal Devonta Smith from the Giants. After years of very little talent at WR, the Eagles finally had someone with Star Power.
They just signed him to an extension, 2 years before they actually had to. He has proven to be a true WR1, even while sharing targets with AJ Brown.
Acquiring AJ Brown
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Even after getting Devonta Smith, the Eagles still had a big need at WR. Many people were projecting the Eagles to use one of their 3 1st round picks in 2022 to take yet another WR. Howie had a different plan. Why draft a young guy who may or may not be good when you can go out and get an established star at WR? Howie sent the Titans the 18th pick, and a 3rd round pick, and in return got one of the best WRs in the league.
They immediately signed him to a 4-year extension. This off-season they signed him to another extension. Now he is here for the long haul, and he has a chance to go down as the best WR in Eagles history. Meanwhile, the Titans have been a mess since he left.
Bringing in "Big Play" Slay
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Similar to WR, the Eagles had been desperately searching for a star-caliber CB for a while. Even that Super Bowl year, they were not exactly stocked in the secondary besides Malcolm Jenkins at Safety. They won with guys like Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby. It quickly caught up to them in the following years. So when Slay was trying to get out of Detroit due to a spat with then-head Coach Matt Patricia, Howie pounced.
The Eagles got an All-Pro Caliber Corner, and all they had to give up was a 3rd and 5th-round pick. Even now at an older age, he is still going up with guys like Ja’marr Chase and looking pretty good while doing so.
Trading Down With the Dolphins in 2021
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Sometimes Howie’s great moves have nothing to do with acquiring talent. Like in the 2021 draft. Howie traded down from pick 6 to pick 12 with the Dolphins, getting the Dolphins 1st round pick the following year. It’s the pick that would eventually turn into Jordan Davis. A move we do not have clear answers about. But the trade-down itself was a genius move.
Even after trading down from 6 to 12, they still got a guy, Devonta Smith, who everyone would have been happy with at pick 6. Well done Howie.
Howie Rips Off The Saints
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This trade was weird, and I still don’t fully understand what the Saints got out of this. At one point the Eagles had 3 picks in the first round of the 2022 draft. But they wound up with 2 after they swapped a ton of picks with the Saints. The Saints wound up having two 1st round picks in 2022, but they gave up a lot to get that. There were a lot of moving parts, but here is what each team got back.
Eagles: No. 18 pick, pick 101, Pick 237, 2023 1st round pick (10), and a 2024 2nd round pick
Saints: Pick 16, Pick 19, Pick 194
The Eagles pretty much just gave up one 1st and moved a few picks down with another. And in return, they got Jalen Carter, and that 2nd round pick turned into Cooper DeJean. The Saints were trying to bet on themselves and failed. They ended up taking the bad end of the deal giving up two 1st round picks far more valuable than the two picks they got back, and throwing in a 2nd round pick for good measure.
Acquiring CJ Gardner Johnson
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Yes, it wound up being only a rental, and then he came back a year later. But that rental was a huge boost in the 2022 season. CJ Gardner Johnson was a playmaking machine that season having a league-leading 6 interceptions despite missing time. he was such a huge part of that defense that helped them get to the Super Bowl.
Acquiring Jay Ajayi
(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Ajayi is not a star like Brown or Slay. But his addition brought an extra element to the team that finally won the first Super Bowl in Eagles history. Would they have won it without him? Who knows. But the Eagles needed some help at RB, and Howie was not shy about going out to get it. He sent a 4th round pick to the Dolphins and got back a guy who put over 400 yards for them the rest of the way.
Getting a 1st Round Pick For Sam Bradford
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Somehow, someway, the Eagles both offloaded an angry Sam Bradford and got a 1st and 4th round pick back in 2016. The Vikings were desperate for QB help after Tedd Bridgewater suffered a season-ending injury, and Howie cashed in. In one fell swoop he replaced one of the 1st round picks they used to trade up for Carson Wentz and opened up the starting spot for Carson Wentz by getting rid of Sam Bradford.
He did go on to waste that pick on Derek Barnett. But the 4th round pick turned into Josh Sweat who turned out very well for them.
Getting a First Round Pick For Carson Wentz
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That is not the only example of Howie getting a lot back for a QB they didn’t even want. When Wentz’s time had run its course in Philly, there was not a lot of optimism Howie would get much back. But he worked his magic and got a conditional 1st round pick. Thankfully, those conditions were satisfied, and he turned into one of the 3 1st rounders they had in 2022.
They sent that pick to the Saints, and got a haul. They made a lot of other trades with the picks they got back, which makes what they got back for Wentz a bit complicated. Going through all the eventual trades would take a whole article of its own. But all of these players were acquired with picks connected to that original trade of Wentz.
- DeVonta Smith
- A.J. Brown
- Kyron Johnson
- Jalen Carter
- Cooper DeJean
- Jalyx Hunt
- Jeremiah Trotter Jr
- 2025 fourth-round pick
- 2025 fifth-round pick
Pretty good haul for a guy who is now a backup in the league.
Moving Up With Dolphins in 2016 Draft
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Before the Eagles moved up to pick 2 to get Carson Wentz, they made another move to get from 13 to 8. What did they have to give up to get there? Two players they were already trying to get rid of. Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell. It not only moved them 5 picks up in the draft but got rid of the bad contract they had just given Byron Maxwell. Not sure what the Dolphins were thinking.
To go from 8 down to 13 and only get two struggling overpaid veterans back. But thank you Dolphins, and thank you Howie.
